World leaders commemorate WWI outbreak in Liege

WORLD leaders have marked the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, warning of the lessons offered by today’s crises, including Ukraine.

AFP and Network Writers

News Corp AustraliaAugust 5, 20142:19am

Coming together ... Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge with French President Francois Hollande, at Le Memorial Interallie in Liege, Belgium. Picture: John ThysSource:Getty Images

WORLD leaders marked the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I on Monday warning of the lessons to be learned in the face of today’s many crises, including Ukraine.

“Peace has to be a shared goal,” Belgium’s King Philippe told leaders gathered in the eastern city of Liege. “World War I reminds us to reflect on our responsibility ... to bring people together.”

Leaders from across Europe - from Britain and Ireland to Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Malta - attended the commemoration at the Allied War Memorial of Cointe, a tower overlooking the city with a weathered grey-stone church painted with white doves for the occasion.

Lessons of the past ... soldier in period uniform takes part in a commemoration ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. Picture: Virginia MayoSource:AP

French President Francois Hollande recalled Germany’s invasion of neutral Belgium in early August 1914 that turned a Balkans war into a global conflagration, raising current day parallels.

“How can we remain neutral today when a people not far from Europe is fighting for their rights?” Mr Hollande said, clearly referring to the Ukraine crisis.

“How can we remain neutral when a civilian airliner is brought down ... when there is conflict in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza?”

“We cannot remain neutral ... Europe must live up to its responsibilities with the United Nations,” he told an audience that included Britain’s Prince William and his wife Catherine, heads of state and representatives of some 80 countries.

German President Joachim Gauck said Berlin had launched the war based only on “military logic” and it was immediately apparent that “treaties were worthless and that the standards of civilisation had been rendered null and void.”

‘I must have no hatred’ ... Prince William, his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and French President Francois Hollande at a ceremony paying homage to the victims of the war. Picture: Virginia MayoSource:AP

Prince William recalled the German execution of British nurse Edith Cavell, who just before her death in 1915 said: “I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”

“It took another terrible war to learn the truth of her words and even today we continue to learn that lesson,” he said.

“The events in Ukraine testify to the fact that instability continues to stalk our continent,” he added.

The leaders gathered in the industrial town of Liege built on coal and steel because it barred the way to invading German troops in the early days of August 1914.

Its fierce resistance derailed Berlin’s plans for a quick victory, while Germany’s invasion of Belgium formally brought Britain into the war, as interlocking alliances that were meant to preserve the peace plunged Europe into the abyss.

The rest is history - 10 million troops dead, 20 million injured, millions of civilian victims, empires toppled, the world remade.

Earlier Monday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his New Zealand counterpart John Key paid tribute to the tens of thousands of their countries’ soldiers who died far from home.

The conflict “was the most cataclysmic event in human history,” Mr Abbott said, “and arguably gave rise to communism, to Nazism, to World War II and the Cold War.”

Security was very tight in Liege, with all streets leading to the great square and town hall cordoned off, with a heavy police presence.

After Liege, it is the turn of Mons on the French border to remember a do-or-die rearguard action by the first British troops committed to the war as London and Paris scrambled to prevent a German breakthrough in late August.

Prince William, his wife the Duchess of Cambridge, along with Prince Harry and Prime Minister David Cameron will lead the tributes in Mons where the first British soldier died.

It was here, too, that the last British soldier was killed on November 11, 1918, the very day of the Armistice that ended hostilities after four bloody years.

The Mons ceremony will focus on the small military cemetery of St Symphorien, where 229 Commonwealth and 284 German solders were buried together in a gesture of reconciliation even as the fighting raged.

Britain meanwhile holds a series of ceremonies Monday, with people encouraged to turn off their lights from 10pm (7am AEST) to 11pm, inspired by foreign secretary Edward Grey’s famous remark on the eve of war.

“The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time,” he said.

World leaders ... from left, Prince William, his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, French President Francois Hollande, Belgium's Queen Mathilde and Belgium's King Philippe at the ceremony in Liege. Picture: Virginia MayoSource:AP